Can't disable dnsadmin since 2016 Apr auto-update

[Moses Moore]

WHM 56.0 (build 8). Recent auto-upgrade. I'm getting alerts that 'dnsadmin' isn't running, and it automatically started it for me... it also automatically turned it on, and I can't shut it off in the WHM web-based interface.

I don't use it. I will never use it. I've already set "Home > Service Configuration > Nameserver Selection" to "Disabled". None of the machines participate in a DNS cluster. If I turn off monitoring for that service I get an alert once a day telling me that 'dnsadmin' isn't being monitored and WHM feels that is a mistake.

Why is dnsadmin now a requirement for every WHM/cPanel machine? If it is unessential (because none of the WHM/cPanel machines will manage domain names or DNS) how can I get rid of it?

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello

The modified dnsadmin functionality is documented in our version 56 release notes at:

56 Release Notes - Documentation - cPanel Documentation

Here's the relevant section:

Improved dnsadmin functionality
In order to properly handle it, we have updated the way in which cPanel & WHM manages the dnsadmin service.

• You can enable or disable monitoring for the dnsadmin service via the cPanel DNS Admin Cache setting in WHM's Service Manager interface (Home >> Service Configuration >> Service Manager). The upgrade will enable this setting by default.
• Because cPanel & WHM now always runs the dnsadmin service via a daemon and no longer runs it as a compiled binary, we have removed the following settings:
  • The dnsadmin_as_daemon and use_compiled_dnsadmin settings from the /var/cpanel/cpanel.config file.
  • The Use compiled dnsadmin setting from the System section of WHM's Tweak Settings interface (Home >> Server Configuration >> Tweak Settings).

Also, it's important to note the service is automatically enabled in dormant mode. Here's the section of the release notes related to this:

To reduce unnecessary memory consumption, we have expanded the availability of dormant mode for cPanel & WHM services. We have also updated both the new and existing dormant mode capabilities to ensure that Tailwatch checks do not wake dormant services or prevent dormant mode. If you have enabled dormant mode for a service, that service will immediately enter dormant mode whenever you reboot your server or restart the service.

Thus, you should not see a negative impact on resource usage. That said, we will need to determine why you are receiving email notifications about the service failure. Could you let us know the content of the email you are receiving? Also, do you notice any specific entries in /var/log/chkservd.log at corresponding times?

Thank you.

 

[Moses Moore]

My mistake -- I thought I was getting it daily but actually it was coming only once from each machine that was getting cPanel upgraded. It alerted me ' The service “dnsadmin” appears to be down. The system’s command to check or to restart this service failed. ' probably because I turned it off on every machine. Now that it's no longer optional, it's safe for cPanel to assume it's only turned off if something went wrong.

 

[cPanelMichael]

Thank you for providing an update. Feel free to let us know if you have any additional questions regarding this service.

Thank you.